Count The Moments We're Apart
by Matt-LOTR
Summary: In the land of Hueco Mundo, many antics arise as a crackjob team of warriors try to get past a crackjob team of Espada in order to save their friend. Very serious at times. IchigoXOrihime and RenjiXRukia. Slight GrimmjowXOrihime. Chapter Two Complete.
1. My Feet Hurt!

**Count The Moments We're Apart**

**Chapter One: My Feet Hurt! - Renji's POV.**

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There they were. All five of them, together again for their stand against the ones who took their sixth friend and member of their group. 

Kurosaki Ichigo stood in front, his shinigami robes in contrast to all of the white sand surrounding him, though blending with the dark night sky above him. On his back was his famed blade, Zangetsu. It was wrapped up, and basically made Ichigo easy to see, whether he was into the sky with his robes, or on the ground with his white wrapped Zanpakutou. His eyes were shining brilliantly as he stood in front of his group of companions, as those brown orbs gazed around the large desert. In that desert was the largest fortress anyone could ever imagine. His grin flashed across his face, as he had his right hand clutch the hilt of Zangetsu. The orange-haired Substitute Shinigami began to run forward, expecting his friends to follow.

Next in line was Abarai Renji, sporting the very same black Shinigami robes. Over those robes was a tan-like cloak to cover himself and to blend in better with the desert, though if it were coincidence or purely smart, no one know. Though Ichigo certainly thought it was coincidence. At his waist was his Zanpakutou, Zabimaru, in its sheath. His brilliant red hair was in its usually ponytail-Esq fashion as he also wore his white cloth over his forehead, covering the majority of the tattoos on his head.

As Renji began to run in line with Ichigo, the next person behind them grunted. He pushed up his glasses up his nose, constantly fixing them just "to look cool" as he mostly put it. He was wearing the white Quincy clothes and cloak he always did, as no change of fashion consumed him, just the same as Renji and Ichigo. Brushing a hand through his hair in defeat, as he wanted to make a strategy before running in recklessly, he began to follow in suit to the two Shinigami. Around his wrist was, of course, his "Quincy charm thingy" as Ichigo so blankly put it a few minutes before. Oh boy, did Ichigo and Ishida Uryu get along.

The giant behind Uryu stood there, in normal clothes he wore that day during training at the Urahara Shop. His brown hair covered both eyes most of the time, and he size with that combined intimidated mostly anyone who stood in his way. The brute was also a gentle giant, and his voice was soft when he spoke, which was rarely. He began to run after the three. This man was Sado Yasutora, or Chad as Ichigo put it.

The last of their rescue squad was Kuchiki Rukia, and her unusual hair style and short stature causes many arguments between Ichigo and Rukia. Despite that, the black-haired shinigami that was wearing the same attire as Renji began to follow also, as she was very loyal to him. They were all great friends.

They were going through these great extents to invade Hueco Mundo and put a stop to Aizen and his Arrancar army all to save their friend, Inoue Orihime. She had been kidnapped by Ulquiorra Schiffer, the fourth Espada of this army, and boy was that intimidating. Maybe even more so than Sado.

-----

"Damn it! How much farther do we have to run?!"

"Stop complaining, Kurosaki! We'll get there when we get there!"

"So says the guy who set off the trap that almost killed Chad!"

"That was an accident!"  
"Surely, Uryu. Surely."

"Did I give you permission to call me by my proper name?!"

"Right now, I don't care!"

Uryu and Ichigo had been arguing almost three minutes after they had began to run toward Las Noches, Aizen's fortress, and twenty minutes of running had passed. If Renji hadn't had the urge to slice one of their throats with his Zanpakutou, that urge was certainly coming in now.

"This is ridiculous! It's so far! Are we even getting closer?!" Ichigo was really starting to kill Renji's ability to concentrate.

"You're only wasting breath and making this harder, Kurosaki!"

"You didn't have to reply and waste your own, did you, Ishida?!"

"If you'd stop making stupid comments, I wouldn't!"  
"Then stop being such a smart-ass and answering back!"

_Stay calm._

"It's not my fault that you're such an idiot!"

"At least I have common sense!"

_Come on. Arrancar please attack. Anyone._

"Common sense?! I have way more than you could dream of!"

"Then why are you wearing a cape that makes your movement so crappy?"

_If one doesn't come, Ichigo is going to die._

"It makes me look cooler. I'm sure my opponents would love to be killed by a cool looking quincy than a ridiculous Shinigami Substitute who has clown hair."

"Clown hair?!"

_And Uryu will die too._

"If I have clown hair, than you most definitely have four eyes!"

"Original comeback, Kurosaki."

_That's it!_

"WOULD BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP?!" Renji stopped in his tracks, and swung his arms for emphasis of how pissed he was. Everyone else stopped running and turned to look at Renji, who had fallen into the back in a desperate attempt to drown out the noise. He was very angry, and it showed on his face. He looked as if he was going to bite off Ichigo and Uryu's heads.

"Geez, Abari. If you were getting so mad at us talking, you could've said so." Ichigo chirped in, raising a finger up as he said so.

"You guys were so loud you wouldn't have heard me! I mean, I couldn't even hear myself think!"

The Substitute Shinigami blinked, looking at Renji questioningly. Before he could say something, a foot smashed into his face and caused him to fall back wards and sprawl onto his back. He cringed in pain as he rolled on the sand holding his face in pain. His moaning and grunting were muffled as Rukia landed on the sand gracefully, wiping a bit of blood off her foot and into the sand. She blinked, and then made an innocent face at the others.

Uryu slapped his forehead and quickly apologized to Renji and the others, and they began to run again once Ichigo finally got up. Though he was angry, he decided not to continue. Rukia was fast, and that was a quick, yet cheap, kick. That's why she and Renji were good friends. They agreed on mutual matters, no matter how trivial. Like this, for instance.

"God damn it!"

"What now?!" Renji nearly screamed.

Renji was really getting annoyed, and Ichigo was just complaining about the trip. How they ended up as a team, he has no idea.

"My feet hurt!"

"Then stay here and rest, damn it! Just shut up!"

Ichigo grunted and fell onto the ground, tripping on a small lizard. The Lizard had a hollow mask and a hollow hole, but it looked nearly harmless. He sat up slowly, blinking at the creature. Poking it carefully, he began to slowly move it back wards. He was entertaining himself greatly.

"Ichigo! What are you doing?!"

"Don't worry Rukia, it's harmless-- AHHHH!"

The lizard has bit Ichigo, and a small bit of black reiatsu was leaking out. The lizard was firing a cero. The Substitute was too nervous and having a seizure to react, so Renji pulled out his Zanpakutou. He was quite far away, and he doubted he was going to get there in time before Ichigo's arm was eradicated, so he threw his hand over his blade.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" The blade released into its shikai as he did so, and he threw the blades to slice the Lizard, which it did. The cero dissipated, and Ichigo was on the ground.

"No need to thank me, Kurosaki."

"Thank you?!" Ichigo cried as he shot to his feet in anger, "You nearly chopped off my whole arm!"

"You weren't doing anything, and I wouldn't have made it to save your arm."

"What are you talking about?! It was a puny animal hollow!"

"You just don't get it, Kurosaki."

"What the hell do you mean?!" He screamed, throwing his arms into the air as reiatsu slowly formed around his body from the emotions he expressed. Renji was getting nervous at this.

_He really needs to control his reiatsu, damn it..._

"Cero isn't somethin' you play with, baka. It's dangerous stuff."

"Oh well! I'll find out myself!"

"Shut up and get running!"

Ichigo blinked, as he was now hundreds of feet behind them all. He screamed in defeat as he ran to catch up.

_That shut him up._

-----

Sado stopped after another ten minutes, causing everyone but Ichigo to stop. He valiantly turned around and waved to the others, screaming his lungs out to his hearts content.

"If we're gonna take so many breaks, we'll never get there before Winter!"

"You have to pay attention, Shinigami."

A familiar voice rang through Ichigo's ears. His mind instantly processed a reaction, and Ichigo jumped away from the source. His scowl was obvious that he knew who it was. Renji had no idea who it was, neither did the others, except Rukia. Her expression showed fear, and she was terrified. There was an Arrancar, who promptly turned around.

His blue hair moved along with his, showing how loose it was. How it defied gravity the way it did was a mystery, because it was so loosely compacted that it seemed it would fall down and resemble Sado or Uryu's hair better. The grin he held once he turned a manic, and he looked like a maniac as he pointed to his back with his thumb. Renji eyed the spot he pointed to, and his eyes widened in response. Sado and Uryu had nearly similar responses.

"... Espada... Number Six..." Renji muttered out loud, fear slightly struck at him. The sand did not move, neither did the dead trees, the clouds, or the moon above them. There was no breeze, there was no life besides the six of them. The Espada's grin grew wider, and the hollow mask on his jaw only told Renji who it was. Ichigo had mentioned him, and told him of the mask.

_This is... He's..._

"Grimmjow... Jeagerjaques..." Ichigo said, finishing Renji's thoughts, as he pulled Zangetsu off of his back, as the tape unwrapped instantly.

"If your friends don't leave us to fight and stay here, they'll never get to Las Noches in time to save your woman, Shinigami." Grimmjow said, turning back around and putting his hands into his pockets.

_He's right... If we just stay here, we'll never make it. But if I stay with Ichigo and fight, we'll catch up after we kill--_

"I'll handle this. I've got a trick up my sleeve. Go on without me."

Renji couldn't believe his ears. After so many defeats to this Arrancar, he still wanted to do this himself?!

"Are you crazy, Kurosaki?!"

"Hey, I'll do just fine. I'm the one who's going to save Inoue, anyways" He said to Renji, turning his head and giving him a reassuring smile.

Uryu nodded, and grabbed Rukia by her sleeve and ran past Grimmjow, as Sado picked up Renji and began to follow. The grin on Grimmjow's face disappeared, and he was suddenly sword against sword with Ichigo. At that moment, they seemed to blur away, and they couldn't be seen any longer. Renji wanted to test his new techniques so badly, and he didn't want to die here. If they were too separated, they'd all die, and Renji still had... Things to do with his life.

The last they heard before everything behind them faded away was, "Bankai!" and "Grind!".

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Alright. My first fan fiction in forever! Hope it's good! The beginning is a tad short and a tad short, but it'll get much more longer and intense in the next chapter! I can never do good with first chapters anyways... 

Anyways, here's some details. Every chapter is told in a different characters POV, or at least most of them will. Mostly, they will be told in the POVs of Orihime, Renji, Rukia, Ichigo, and Grimmjow.

**Read and Review!**


	2. Make It Quick, Grimmjow

**Count The Moments We're Apart**

**Chapter Two: Make It Quick, Grimmjow - Ichigo's POV.**

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"Are you crazy, Kurosaki?!" 

Renji's word ran through Ichigo's ears like a phone that never stopped working, and someone was always trying to call. In his eyes, Renji was trying to call him to stop him from doing something stupid. But it was quite the opposite. Within the two or three day period in which Orihime had left the Human World, Ichigo had trained himself to exhaustion. He was waiting for this moment, ever since the second his mask broke in their last fight. He had to pay Grimmjow back. For everything that happened that day.

He turned his head to Renji, a wind of reiatsu blowing his Shinigami robes around a bit as he held onto Zangetsu as it leaned onto his shoulder. The Substitute Shinigami smiled at his comrade, and his eyes closed in excitement.

"Hey, I'll do just fine. I'm the one who's going to save Inoue, anyways." His smile. It was reassuring. He made sure it was; because he knew he was going to win.

_At least I hope I do..._

_"I tend to feel better when there are spirit particles around. Quincys fight using the spirit particles around them, you know. I'm actually stronger here."_

_"So that's how this thing survives without eating souls?" Ichigo asked, holding a lizard hollow by its tail as if it were a dead animal._

_Uryu fixed his glasses, grunting by Ichigo's display of disgust, "Yes. He most likely can survive just off breathing the spirit particles."_

_"That's pretty cool. He doesn't have to eat." Ichigo stated triumphantly, as he tossed it to the side and watched it burrow._

_"Yes, but the Arrancar most likely have this as a strength advantage too."_

Once Renji stopped calling the phone, Uryu began to call back from earlier.

Those words rang in his head, and he noted at Grimmjow looked much stronger than back in Karakura. His grin was wider, his eyes were more blood thirsty as ever, and he was twitching with excitement. Ichigo looked down at himself.

So was he.

"What, Shinigami? Feeling second thoughts?" Grimmjow asked, speaking up with his bloodthirsty tone.

Ichigo looked up with a smile, "Just the opposite. I've been waiting for this!" Zangetsu's wraps fell off retracted from the pile on the sand, and it glowed brilliantly in the moonlight.

_"Fear, and you will die, Ichigo."_

_Alright, Old Man Zangetsu. Let's do this!_

"Oh? So I guess we can go all out this time?" Grimmjow asked, taking his hands out of his pockets. He reached for the hilt of his Zanpakutou gracefully, and pulled it out without making any noise, "Kurosaki..."

The blade of Zangetsu flew forward, pointing directly at Grimmjow, the Arrancar he hated so damn much, "Grimmjow..."

Grimmjow's free hand flew over his blade, the noise of his hand coming down on it resembling a chalkboard, "Grind. Pantera!"

A wonderful array of lights covered Grimmjow as smoke flew everywhere and covered him. The clouds of white smoke flew past Ichigo and covered his eyesight and a majority of his other senses as well.

_It's now or never!_

"Bankai!" Zangetsu glowed blue and shot a beam of reiatsu out at Grimmjow's location, and smoke emerged from Ichigo as well.

Ichigo had to do this. He had to defeat Grimmjow, so he could save Orihime. It was the first priority on his list. But why? Why did he feel like he had to save Orihime? There was five of them, and it was most likely one of them could do it while he fought...

The orange-haired Shinigami wanted to be the one to save her, and no one else. But why?

Why him?

Before Ichigo was ready, he was broken out of his thoughts into a sword clash. Only, he wasn't clashing against a sword. The power from the blade that hit Zangetsu was immense, and he was struggling to stay on his feet. Grimmjow had arm blades, one on each arm, and he was pushing Ichigo back at an incredible rate.

The beam had missed him by an inch.

The new armor that coated Grimmjow was breath-taking. Every inch of his body, save his face, was covered in what seemed to be an armor made of Hollow masks. His claws were as sharp as any Zanpakutou, and his ears were equally as sharp. He has a long panther-like tail, and his hair had finally left its loose state to recover into a state of spikes. The two arm blades were enough to deal with, but his feet has become just as sharp as his ears and claws. And he looked as much as a maniac as ever.

_I'm in trouble..._

Ichigo was flying back wards at a rate he couldn't even hope to run. The sheer pressure that Grimmjow was exerting was amazing, and in awe, Ichigo couldn't move his hand to his face. He would die if he did so.

He could feel the blades scratching and slightly impaling Zangetsu. It was giving his goosebumps. He couldn't react whatsoever, and Grimmjow had the entire advantage to himself.

"Damn it, Kurosaki! If this were going to be so easy, then I wouldn't have released Pantera!" He called out, backing his blade away from Zangetsu to land a kick against Ichigo's side. The kick was made of sheer power, and Ichigo fell against the sand as he flipped around like a rag doll.

_I can't regain my balance... Damn it!_

His hands flew out, trying to grabbed a hold onto something. He could feel Grimmjow approaching quickly; had he gotten faster too?! He had no time to think such thoughts!

He tried grabbing onto the sand to stop his movement, to no avail as well. He reached for one of those quartz trees, and it broke off instantly. He tried to gather reiatsu at his feet into order to stand up, but his momentum was to great to even stop flipping. He was open to any attack. This was bad. Very bad.

At this rate, he wasn't going to save anyone.

Grimmjow connected another kick, this time against the bottom of his jaw. Ichigo flew up into the air, where he was met by Grimmjow from behind.

_So... fast..._

Another kick his Ichog's back, and he flew straight into the sand below, causing a great deal of damage to both the sand and Ichigo's body.

"Y'see, Kurosaki... That sand is so condensed with spirit particles that when two really strong people fight..." He started, the grin widened as he began to have fun with his prey, "It becomes as hard as concrete."

Ichigo could feel that being true, and he had trouble rising to his feet. Blood was seeping form his forehead, and he could feel like a few of his ribs had broken form those powerful kicks. His arms were numb, and they were almost stuck to Zangetsu's hilt. So much pain.

"I don't wanna fight you, Kurosaki. I wanna fight the other you. The one that caused me to go on the defensive."

Coughing. Blood. Not good. Ichigo fell to one of his knees, noting what Grimmjow said. If he wanted that, why did he hurt him so badly before he could go into that form? Why?

_Is he toying with me?!_

"Bring him out, Shinigami!" Grimmjow taunted out, as he shot two darts from the back of his blade. They each hit a tower in the distance, and they both exploded into bits. The explosion was bigger than any of his Getsuuga Tenshous could do.

_He's so powerful..._

"Bring him out now!" He called, shooting one lone dart at Ichigo.

_I can't move..._

The dart was flying at Ichigo's head with incredible speed.

_Is this fear...?_

The dart exploded on contact, and the sand perished into a torrent of the sand flying up wards, "What a waste of time." The Espada said, spitting to the side. He was about to leave, when he suddenly felt a strange pressure behind him.

The pressure was unlike Ichigo's, or any Shinigami to be precise, and seemed more like a powerful Hollow. The reiatsu he felt was so sinister that it surpassed his own in how intimidating it was. The Espada's eyes widened as his head turned slowly. He saw such a silhouette in the torrent of sand, that he swore he'd have nightmares for weeks to come.

He stared at it with such surprise that he swore he was going to die right then and there. He knew it wasn't Ichigo.

"The First Espada..." Grimmjow muttered, his eyes narrowing from the bad vibe he got. "You're here to kill me for defying, Aizen, huh?"

A voice rang out of the sand, it being so familiar, yet coated with a second voice that sounded more like himself. The reiatsu wasn't the First Espada.

There he was, Zangetsu in one hand, and a mask behind his other. The other hand was, of course, covering half of his face. His eyes were intensifying. His pupils went from brown to yellow, and his eyes changed from white to black. He had the reiatsu of an Espada.

He was a demon... "I'm not no Espada. Don't get me mixed up with your kind, Grimmjow."

"Tch, you're alive. And you certainly brought out the guy I wanted to fight, too. This'll be fun."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed, and the pressure increased to the point that Grimmjow had trouble standing on his reiatsu while in the air.

"No, this will be quick."

"Are you asking me to make your death quick?! Hah! How lame!"

"Wrong again, Grimmjow. I'm telling myself..." He began, while Grimmjow became nervous at the chill that emitted from his voice, "To end this quickly."

_I've got someone to save._

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Ah, another chapter complete. Makes me feel good, y'know? I personally like this chapter. 

**Read and Review!**


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